Graffiti incidents on the rise

February 26, 2010

MORGAN HILL, CA — An increase in reports of graffiti has led the city of Morgan Hill, California, to hire a graffiti abatement officer, according to the Morgan Hill Times.

According to the story, city departments have had problems keeping up with reports of vandalism across the city, and the abatement officer — currently only working part time until additional funds are made available — uses an arsenal of cleaning and painting supplies to keep the city graffiti-free.

Abatement officer Ron Nelson said that he first will try to remove the graffiti, but will paint over with a similar color if cleaning is unsuccessful, the story stated.

Nelson said: "They put it where you can see it. When I paint a wall (in some places), a week later they''re going to put it back up again. You see a lot of the same ones over and over."

While Nelson cannot respond directly to graffiti on private buildings, the city does notify property owners if their buildings have been vandalized and often provides them with paint or will remove the graffiti with the owner''s permission, the story noted.

The city spent over $25,000 in graffiti abatement last year, and Nelson said the amount of graffiti is up at least 25 percent this year, the story added.